


Hard Habit To Break

by WillowEdmond



Category: Professional Wrestling, World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: F/M, Hand Jobs, Oral Sex, reluctance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-05
Updated: 2014-12-12
Packaged: 2018-02-28 05:12:13
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 20,774
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2719931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WillowEdmond/pseuds/WillowEdmond
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Madison Aldridge has a past she would prefer remained hidden. But there's one wrestler who knows her better than anyone else, including her husband. She knows she should cut all ties with her past, she knows she's playing with trouble, but there's something about this wrestler that won't let her say no.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> **WWE Owns the wrestlers. I own the originals.  
> **
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> This story is dedicated to Lauraxxx, who knows why. I know it's not the story we originally joked about, but for some reason, that story wouldn't happen, this one did instead. And I hope you like it anyway.

Madison Aldridge had not been born Madison Aldridge, nor had she been born Madison Montgomery, as her husband Theodore Aldridge believed. Her birth name, as was written on the old birth certificate which was in her private safe in the back of her very large walk in closet, was Honey Combs.

There were times when Madison wondered if the best her mother hoped for her, was to grow up a stripper. Then, there were other times when she was positive that her mother only wished she _could_ grow up to be a stripper. Her mother had worked the pole a few times, but was never a huge success at it. Ma's real career lay in ADC, sponging, and the occasional fuck for the bucks. But Ma had her hobbies, oh yes she did. Ma liked musicians, the more shaggy and unkempt the better. She was a regular at every bar that advertised "Cold Beer, Live Music," trying desperately to pick up musicians. She never got the lead singer, she usually ended up with the bass player. Sometimes the entire band was out of her league and she ended up with the band roadie. Ma didn't care, as long as they had something to do with music, she'd open her legs for them.

Her mother expected Honey to follow in her mother's footsteps. Brenda Combs was not one of those poor women who pinned all her hopes on a daughter that would escape the hard life of living in the projects and do well for herself. Brenda Combs believed that if the life of a low level groupie and welfare mom was good enough for her, it was good enough for her daughter. When Honey was young and got all A's on her report card, Brenda Combs would snort and go, "Why you wasting all that time on building your brains when brains ain't gonna get you nowhere? You should learn to shake your ass, girl, that's where the money's at." And when Honey was sixteen, she made her drop out of high school. "You can read and write and the law says you don't have to go to school no more, so guess what? No point in wasting yourself."

Honey hadn't minded too much, by that time she had already past discovering boys and was on to men. It started with the second rate musicians Ma brought home. The first one raped her, but gave her a hundred dollars to keep her mouth shut. The second one, she just asked him if he'd like to fuck her and when they were done, she told him she was underage and she'd tell the whole world unless he gave her a hundred bucks. That scam worked pretty well for awhile, sometimes she didn't even have to threaten, they'd just give her the money to sleep with her.

Then, when she was fourteen, a friend of hers introduced her to professional wrestling and she loved it. Loved watching these men dressed in barely more than their underwear (well, most of them, at least) beating each other up. Sure, it was scripted, but there was a lot of real pain going on there. And, she had to admit, it was a total turn-on. Her mother could have her skanky musicians, Honey wanted the warriors of the Squared Circle, she wanted men who weren't afraid to roll around in an arena and put their crotches in each others faces if they had to. She loved seeing these half naked men pinning each other, or just grappling with each other. Yeah, baby, it was so close to guy on guy porn that she wondered why it was even legal, never mind not even age restricted.

Even more wonderful was discovering that most of these wrestlers were straight and loved pussy. Sure, guy on guy action was hot as hell to watch, but her reaction to seeing two honestly gay men was, "Well, I guess I'm not needed here." But nope, most of the wrestlers were straight and they wanted to fuck. And they loved to fuck her. By the time she celebrated her seventeenth birthday, she knew what she was, she was a ring rat. A regular who traipsed around the territory, scouring rides to get to the next event. Gas grass or ass, baby, no free rides. She almost never had extra money, and never had grass, unless one of her mom's musician friends left it in the shitty apartment. But that was okay, she had a fine ass, they all told her so. And she sure as hell wasn't afraid to use it.

She might have lived out the rest of her days doing this, until she got too old or she got knocked up. And even the knocking up would have just been a pause more than a stop. It was her life. Sure, she knew there were other things in this world, but not for a girl like her. Not for a third generation welfare kid. The best she could hope for was to one day qualify for section eight and get into one of the new projects that sprang up from time to time. Get there before the rats and the roaches, the drug sellers and the drive by shootings. Sure, in a few years it would be all that and more, but for a few years, it would be relatively nice. But then she met the guy who changed her whole perspective on life, who in some ways could be considered the father of Madison Montgomery, which was damned kinky when you thought about it.

"Mrs. Aldridge?" a voice cut through her memories. "Mrs. Aldridge?"

Madison looked up to see Sofia, the maid staring at her. She shook her head and smile. "Sorry, Sofia, wool gathering."

"Yes Mrs. Aldridge," Sofia said.

Madison had been trying for the last year to get her to call her Madison, but Sofia wouldn't do it. "We're not friends, Mrs. Aldridge," was Sofia's reasoning. "I appreciate that you and Mr. Aldridge are my bosses. I am grateful that you pay me better than the going rate and that you give me the time I need to go to college, but we aren't friends. You are my boss and I won't talk to my boss like I would my friend."

Madison respected that, but she wondered if Sofia would respect her as much if she knew Madison's past. Or, that Madison had never graduated from High school, just had a GED and a few college classes. She meant to go back to college full time, that was one of the reasons why she got involved in all of this in the first place. But, instead she found herself falling into the life Theo Aldridge and his friends expected of their wives. Charity events, luncheons, pastimes of the idol rich. She was supposed to better herself and instead she was just another name in the society section. Oh, sure, they flattered her. "Mrs. Aldridge, you helped raise almost a million dollars for cancer research, you are such an asset to this world" but the truth was, she was just a pretty face who could make phone calls and coax very rich people into making donations that seemed impossibly large to anyone struggling to make a living, but in truth, were a mere drop in the bucket. Anyone could do what she did, as long as they had the right connections to go with the pretty face.

"Mrs. Aldridge," Sofia asked, looking hesitant. "Can I get something for you?"

Madison shook her head. "No, I'm fine."

"Then, do you mind..." Sofia looked about the room and made a helpless shrug.

Madison stared at her, puzzled for a moment, then realized Sofia was trying to hint that she needed to clean this area, the entry hall, and Madison standing there was not helping. "Oh, I'm sorry, Sofia! I'll go to my office."

"Thank you. I mean, if you have business in here, that's fine but-"

"No, I was just checking the mail," she scooped the bundle of magazines, junk mail, bills, cream colored expensive envelopes, into her arms, and left the room.

* * *

 _She met him an event, he wasn't even one of "her" guys, not a member of the indy group she usually hung with. This guy was an invader, he and his friends coming up to stir trouble and add a little excitement. He had manged to bring "her" champion down, even though it wasn't a title match. She had enjoyed watching this guy take on Rob Wydell, the overconfident asshole deserved to be taken down a few pegs, and this guy had done it. But the matches after that had been, well,_ boring _. So, Honey found herself drifting to the back of the gym, sitting on the floor against the wall. She pulled a book out of her handbag and started reading._

_"What'cha reading, beautiful?" a voice asked._

_She looked up, it was him, the guy who took out their champion. Or, "That Asshole," as Wydell had been calling him since the challenge was announced. She took a lot of grief from her friends and the wrestlers over her reading, so she tried to slide the book behind her back. Before she could, he reached out and nabbed it from her hand as easy as you please._

_"A Tree Grows in Brooklyn," he commented, reading the cover. "Do you like it?"_

_She nodded. "Yeah, this is the second time I'm reading it."_

_"That good, huh?" He handed it back to her, and sat down on the floor across from her. He had changed from his wrestling trunks into jeans and a t-shirt. He had showered too, because his hair was still wet and he smelled like baby shampoo. She knew a lot of wrestlers bought store brand baby shampoo. It was cheap and mild enough to double as an all body wash too. He had picked a good store brand though, because it mostly smelled clean, not powdery, like some smelled._

_She shrugged, folding over the page she had been reading and closing the book. "I do that when I read. I read a book fast, 'cause I wanna know what happens, then I read it slowly to savor it."_

_"First time you're starving, the next time you're just hungry?" He grinned._

_"Something like that," she said, appreciating how accurate the analogy was._

_"So, what's your name?" he asked._

_"Honey," she answered, wondering why he was sitting with her. He came with his group, and his group traveled with their own group of women, surely one if not more of them were willing to keep him company, he didn't need her. Besides, Kiki had told her Wydell had been checking her out and she hadn't slept with him yet. It would be a nice feather to her imaginary cap to sleep with the current champion, even if he was an asshole._

_"Honey, what?" He asked._

_She sighed. "Honey Combs."_

_She waited for the inevitable laughter or jokes, but he shook his head and said, "I'll bet your mother thought that was so cute."_

_She shrugged. "Probably thought it would make a great stripper name."_

_He rolled his eyes. "Your mom sounds like a winner. Hey guess what?" he asked abruptly changing the subject._

_"What?"_

_"I have five thousand dollars on me." He grinned. "Don't tell any of these losers or they'll probably try to roll me."_

_"Five grand?" her eyes widened. "How you get that much money? Push a liquor store? You deal on the side?"_

_He shook his head, a look of anger clouding his face, and she cringed, scared she'd provoked his wrath. "I don't do that shit," he said._

_"Sorry." Her voice came out higher than she intended._

_He frowned. "You okay?"_

_"Yeah, just sorry I offended you," she said._

_He shrugged. "You didn't. I just don't like people who sell drugs. No, I got this money the old fashioned way, I won it on a scratch ticket. Do you believe that?"_

_"Wow," she said, impressed. Her mother and her friends did those things all the time and the best she ever heard of them winning was her mother winning five hundred bucks one time. Five thousand was amazing. "So, now you rich, whatcha gonna do, go to Disney Land?"_

_He laughed. "Nah, nothing so mundane. Let me ask you, Honey Combs, do you have your own place 'round here?"_

_She shook her head. "Seventeen, I live with my mom, still."_

_"Does your mom allow you to have company?" His head was tipped to one side and he was studying her._

_"Yeah." Normally she would have said no, although her mother wouldn't have cared if she'd had the entire indy group she hung with stay in their shitty two bedroom apartment. But she didn't like having overnight guests with her mother there. Ma might only go out looking for the boys in the band, but she wasn't above trying to get a little action from any guy in the house. But, dear, sweet Ma actually was having a fling with a bass player who hadn't kicked her to the curb lately, so she was on the road with him, which meant Honey had the place to herself. "She gone though. Last she text me, she say she be back in a few weeks."_

_"Wow, she and my mom ought to get together, they can fight it out for mother of the year." He offered up a lopsided grin, that seemed carefree and easy, even though his words indicated a past that was as rough as hers, maybe even rougher. "Well, Honey, I'm going to be in your fair city for a week. I'm going to kick your champion's ass next week too, so why bother to head home? I could take this five grand and spend part of it on a cheap, shitty hotel room for a week, bunk up with my friends, but eh, that sound boring. So, what I thought is that maybe I could stay with you."_

_"With me?" She studied him. She knew the score, he didn't want a place on her couch, he expected he'd share her bed with her too, although she was thinking they'd use her mom's bed instead, because it was a double, while hers was a twin. "What's in it for me?"_

_"Mind blowing sex," he said, not mincing words. "I may not look like much, but I'm good. I'll show you things probably none of your usual guys have shown you." He grinned, his eyes dancing. "And, if that's not enough, I'll make sure you eat good this week, and when it's time for me to leave? I'll give you a thousand bucks. Sound fair?"_

_She should have been insulted. She knew he was buying her, as if she were a common whore. But her mind was dazzled with the thought of a thousand dollars, all hers. There was so much she could do with that money. And really, when you thought about it, he wasn't really accusing her of anything that she really wasn't. She **was** a whore, she just usually was a pretty cheap one. _

* * *

Madison put the mail down on her desk and sat down. Her office was a professionally decorated mixture of muted colors, creams, tans, and browns, with beautifully restored antique furniture. The few pops of color came from the expensive artwork on the walls. Expensive and for the most part, originals, and all carefully chosen to compliment the room. She had to give the decorators credit, they knew what they were doing. Some of her friends did their own decorating, found it fun, but not her. She knew that if she had decorated this room, it would have had modern furniture, bright colored walls, and just screamed "Raised in the projects!" She had done everything she could to leave her old life behind her, but some things she couldn't get rid of. Fortunately, when Theo bought this...mausoleum of a house, he had expected she would hire the best decorators money could buy to fix it up right and they had done just that. Sure, they had asked her opinion on things, but she was an expert at reading people's expressions and body language. She would look to see what they thought was best and then agree with that. She was sure if anyone asked Lindsey, the owner of the decorating firm about her, Lindsey would say that Madison's tastes were perfect.

She organized the mail carefully. Junk mail was put in a bin over by the shredder, Sofia would take care of that later. The bills went to one corner to be paid when she had time. Theo had told her that with all her charity and volunteer work, that he would understand if she wanted to hire a secretary who would handle the mundane things like paying the bills, but that idea made her uncomfortable. They had plenty of money, the checking account was never in danger of running low, and if it was, she could just pop on line and transfer over a healthy sum in minutes, but Madison, or maybe it was Honey, felt she had to keep control of things. Besides, when there was always money, paying bills was a simple matter. And lately she was even transferring things to electronic billing, so they just deducted them from the checking account. Still, she got notifications through email and carefully double checked all the figures at least once a month to make sure everything was going smoothly. Theo laughed at her about that. "Why are you so worried?" he said to her once, after she spent two days on and off with the cable company over a ten dollar discrepancy over the latest bill. "Is ten dollars that important?"

Although she smiled and shrugged and tried to brush it off, the part of her that was still Honey, that would always be Honey, was furious. Ten dollars was ten dollars. She could have fed her and her mother for two days with ten dollars. Ten dollars would have gotten her a pack of cigarettes and a Mountain Dew, back in the days when she smoked and drank soda. Ten dollars was ten dollars and it infuriated her that her husband could be so careless about money. Infuriated her that he never knew what it was like to live a lifestyle where ten dollars could mean the difference between eating good for the week, or having to live on rice and plain boiled macaroni. Theo hadn't grown up with the money he had now, but his parents had been far from poor. He had lived a borderline life, the borderline being between high upper middle and low elite class. Now he was in the top of the elite class. Barely in the top, but that was just splitting hairs, wasn't it?

This wasn't to say Theo didn't work hard for what he had, he did. He wasn't a trust fund baby, although when his grandparents died, he had inherited a good sum of money, money he had taken and carefully invested, and grown into a much healthier sum. And even with that, he still worked hard. But Theo just never seemed to be that concerned about money. It was like he knew he had the Midas touch with finances, and therefore, refused to worry about ten dollars here and there. Madison had always believed that rich people lived by the motto, "Watch the pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves," but that had proved not to be true. There was a point in her social circles where people just couldn't be bothered to worry about paltry sums of money that were once so important to her.

The magazine she went through and divided into three piles. One group would go on the Queen Anne coffee table in front of the loveseat in this office. The other would go into Theo office. The third in their formal living room. They didn't have many subscriptions, and so many magazines had on line or Kindle versions you could take with you anywhere, but Madison loved the feel of real paper with real printing on it and she thought that a few magazines around the house, gave the place a homey feeling. Provided they were the _right_ magazines.

The expensive envelopes, she knew were invitations. Parties, weddings, and of course, the endless charity functions. "Theo, Madison, you simply _must_ come to our little soirée, we're dying to see you. And _please_ bring your checkbook, we're raising money for (insert name of current fashionable charity here)" She opened those and organized them into piles. The ones they would have to attend, the ones she would discuss with Theo if they could attend, and the ones she wouldn't even bother with. She started filling out the RSVP cards on the ones they would accept and the ones they wouldn't, so they would be out in the mail tomorrow.

When that was done, she put the small stamped envelopes into the Moser bowl she used for outgoing mail that sat at the corner of her desk. Before Sofia left today, she would check the bowl and bring the envelops out to the mailbox. When she came to work tomorrow, she would bring the mail in. On Sofia's week day off, Madison might take care of the mail herself, or she might let it wait until the next day.

She looked at the bills, debating if she should go through those, just to get it over with. She almost reached for them, then changed her mind and opened up her laptop. She checked her regular email, clearing out the junk mail and sorting the main she wanted to keep. When that was done, she went to her "other" email account. The one with the address. The one that was registered to Honey Combs. The one that he knew. The one that he had sent a message to, two days ago:

_I'll be in your area this weekend, any chance I can crash with you? Let me know by Thursday._

It was Wednesday. She had to make a choice soon, because if she wanted to say yes, she had a lot of things to work out. Tapping her recently manicured nails on the desk, she opened another tab and started looking at travel sites.

_End of Part One._


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Honey brings him back to her place, but things aren't quite what they seem.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  _Italics_ are flashback scenes.

_Honey brought him back to her and Ma's apartment, embarrassed by the urine and rotting vegetable smell that always permeated the hallway. She was so used to that smell, that normally she barely even noticed it, but for some reason, it seemed stronger when she walked in with him. He made no comment about it, or the fact that Teylor, one of the area junkies was sleeping under the stairwell. Occasionally someone would chase Tey out of there, and he'd stumble out into the streets, or he'd wake up again and go and do what he needed to score, but if the police ever needed to find him, they knew where to go. The space under the stairwell was his and no one would keep him out for long. But, he walked right past Teylor as if he was used to such sights and they didn't phase him._

_She was glad Ma had been out on the road for awhile, because she had cleaned the place up best she could. To say Ma was a lousy housekeeper was an understatement of almost biblical proportions. Honey was no neat freak, but she didn't like seeing plates of half eaten food growing mold or have the place smell like dirty socks. The place wasn't going to win any Good Housekeeping awards, but the dishes were all washed and in the cupboard and Ma's dirty clothes had been washed and put away. The cheap threadbare carpet had been vacuumed and all the newspapers and other junk disposed of. Of course, the furniture was still stuff caged from the streets and Sally's, but there were no food bits or crumbs on them. She had even sprayed the hell out of the place with the cheap roach spray a few days ago, so that should keep them at bay._

_"I know ain't much," she said, when she let them both in. "But, it's what I got."_

_"It's fine," he said. He was holding a duffel bag, which he raised up in his hand. "Where should I put this?"_

_She lead him to Ma's room, thankful she had cleaned that room too, and changed the sheets. He dropped the duffel bag on the floor and turned to her. "I think it's time I start earning my keep, don't you?"_

_"Huh?" she stared at him, not knowing what she was talking about._

_"I promised you mind blowing sex in return for being able to stay here." His grin lit up his entire face and made him look almost childlike. "I don't see any reason to waste time, do you?"_

_"Strange, aint it?" she couldn't resist saying. "You gone pay me in sex to stay here, then you gone pay me cash for sex when you leave."_

_"Nope." He shook his head and walked over to her. I'm going to give you the best sex you ever had because I'm just that kind of a guy. The thousand bucks? I'm giving you that because I think a ring rat who sits in the corner reading A Tree Grows in Brooklyn during a boring match could put that money to good use." And before she could ask what that meant, he wrapped his arms around her, and kissed her._

_He kissed hard and rough, just like most of the men she'd been with, so she was prepared. He ran his hands through her hair, almost yanking at it, as he thrust his tongue into her mouth, running it inside like some type of serpent, invading her. She tried to relax, hoping it would encourage him to do the same._

_Somehow they moved across the room, although she couldn't remember her legs moving, and they were by the bed. He broke the kiss then, sitting down on the bed and looking at her. "Strip for me, baby," he said, licking his lips. "And do it slow."_

_This was familiar ground, she had a lot of men in the past ask her to strip for them, so she went to the nightstand and turned on the radio alarm clock. It was set to some oldies station Ma loved, but she twisted the dial until she found the local R &B Station, playing that Nelly song, Hot In Herre. Then, she moved away from the bed, and in rhythm with the music, started slowly taking her clothes off. She had no desire to become a stripper like Ma thought she should, but that didn't mean she didn't have moves. She gyrated, and moved, teasing him with a button here, a snap there, moving close so he could look down at her cleavage. She was rather proud of her breasts, C cup, but very round and firm, with what more than one guy had described as "Perfect nipples." And from the gasp of surprise and the look on his face when the bra came off, she would have bet that thousand dollars he was promising her that he felt the same way. _

_The last thing she took off was her thong, and she just pushed it off her hips so it fell to the ground. She moved over to him and straddled his knees, feeling the rough denim on her inner thighs. "Was that slow enough for you?" she purred, her voice low and throaty._

_"Why don't you check it out for yourself," he said, running his tongue across his upper teeth._

_She almost laughed. He promised her mind blowing sex, but so far, he was like every other wrestler it seemed. "Yeah baby, I'm the best!" but all that really mattered was them, never her. "Strip for me, touch me, use your mouth on me, swallow it, gotta fuck you now, baby." Really, it was like that song that played on the Classic station her mother liked to listen to. *"Strut, pout, put it out, that's what you want from women." Every guy thought they were hot stuff in bed, loved to brag, but in truth? They just wanted her to do the work while they groaned, sweated, and yanked her hair. If it wasn't that she found wrestlers so sexy, that she was close just at the thought, she'd probably have no clue what an orgasm felt like unless she was alone in the room._

_But, she had agreed, and unless he was full of shit, there was a grand in this for her, so she slid back a little and unbuttoned the top of his jeans, and started tugging the zipper down, then reached in, through the front of his boxers, appreciating that at least he had something worth bragging about. A lot of guys she knew talked the game about how huge they were, but just as often as not, product was not sized as advertized. But he was packing some serious stuff here. Even if he did turn out to be the usual slam, wham, thank you ma'am, she at least would have the pleasure of feeling filled._

_She slid her legs off him, standing and started tugging at his jeans. He helped her, rising up, just enough so she could pull them off his hips, then down his legs, taking his boxers with them. Then she pulled them off, lifting each leg to tug them off. When he was naked from the waist down, she moved his knees apart and knelt on the floor between his legs. She looked up at him, he was looking at her with the most intense expression on her face, as if he wasn't sure what she would do. She moved closer and grasped him, running her palm along the length of him, feeling him thicken in her hand. Then, looking back up at him, she brought one hand up to her mouth and licked it, slowly, letting her tongue glide across it until her hand was wet with her own saliva. Then, gaze still locked on his, she brought that had down and wrapped it around him, sliding him in her palm and fingers. The other hand, she brought up and licked too, just the palm though. And when that was wet enough for her, she brought it down and as she stroked him, she rubbed the flat of her palm along the top of him._

_His eyes widened as a small groan slipped from his lips and she felt him thickening and growing, and now the saliva on her palm was mixing with his precum, making it even more slippery. "Oh, god," he finally groaned._

_"You like this?" she murmured. She had done this trick a lot, especially when she was seeing a wrestler more or less exclusively, and she was riding the red tide. Some guys refused to part the red sea, some guys didn't mind, a few were even turned on by it, but she always had a back up. She quickened the pace of the hand stroking the length of him, but kept the palm moving in slow, lazy circles._

_"Oh god, yes, can't you tell?" he asked, his mouth half open, his breathing ragged. "Careful, baby, I don't want to spend it in your hand. I wanna cum in your mouth."  
_

_Obediently, she moved her palm from the head and brought her fingers down to the base, then leaned over and took him into her mouth, sucking gently, easing him into her throat, hoping she wouldn't gag. That was the one disadvantage of guys who packed real heat; it felt great in the vay-jay, but hard to handle in the mouth._

_She forced the muscles of her throat to relax, bending her head slightly so his dick was sliding down the throat rather than into the very back of her mouth, because that always gagged her. She bobbed her head, humming ever so slightly, slowly, working a vibration in her throat._

_"Holy shit, you might give the best head I've ever had," he said, putting his arms behind him and leaning back on them, head thrown back. She couldn't see them, but she'd bet he had his eyes closed. She brought her free hand up and started gently stroking his balls, her hands still a little sticky from his earlier precum._

_She knew he was getting close when his balls started to tighten, but he sat up and grabbed her hair and started fucking her mouth, thrusting so hard her nose almost smashed into his pelvis. She hated this. Hated it with a passion, but so many guys did it. No matter how good you were at blowing them, no matter how hard you tried, they got off by fucking your mouth. No matter how she tried to prepare herself, it always felt like that time with her first, the musician who raped her._

_"Fuck yes!" he shouted and slammed his head into her mouth, and this time her nose did smash against him, but fortunately, it was just his belly, not his pelvic bone, so nothing broke. Then he spent himself so violently into her mouth that some of it backed up and through her nose, stinging and burning it. Some leaked out the corners of her mouth, but she managed to swallow most of it and as soon as his hands were out of her hair, she pulled away, his dick falling from her mouth, a connected for a brief second by a trail of spit and cum, before that broke and fell to the floor with a drip._

_"God, that was awesome!" he said, breathing hard. "Let me catch my breath and if you do some of that again, I can fuck you. Would you like that?"_

_"Yeah," she said. She supposed she would. She had plenty of nights like this before, she didn't know why she was feeling disappointed. Maybe it was because he promised her more. He told her he'd give her mind blowing sex, but he was just like everyone else, when he said mind blowing, he meant for him._

* * *

The travel site had a lot of weekend packages, but she had to be careful. Theo wasn't into hunting or fishing, so those types of weekends would never do. But he did like skiing and it was February, so she began looking for weekends to Aspen. She didn't ski, she never found any appeal in the sport herself, but she had gone with him to Aspen quite a few times and spent her time shopping and using the gym in whatever resort she stayed in. Theo knew she enjoyed these times, enjoyed the shopping and the general atmosphere of Aspen, so convincing him that she wanted him to go, without her would not be easy.

She hunted until she found a place that seemed perfect, a five bedroom house with a giant great room, huge fire place, a hot tub on the deck, and a full time, on premise housekeeper and chef. It would cost twenty five thousand dollars a night and it was available for this weekend. She used her credit card to put a non refundable deposit of fifteen thousand dollars

When that was done, she started calling the wives of Theo's closest friends, who by default, were now her closest friends. She started with Beverly, her husband Warren was probably Theo's closest friend, and she actually did like Beverly. She was one of the few women in her circles that she thought even Honey Combs might have liked too. Bev was one of those "Born with a silver spoon" girls, but she was down to earth.

"Hey Maddy," Bev said, when she answered her phone. "How are you? I've been meaning to call you, but I've been doing so much work on this whole Alzheimer's ball, I don't know one day from the next. I can count on you and Theo attending, right?"

Madison had her desktop calender open and she saw the event was in two weeks. "Of course, we wouldn't miss it for the world."

"Wonderful!" Bev sounded delighted, as if the event would be ruined if Madison and Theo didn't attend. She probably did that to everyone, but it still made Madison feel good. "Warren was just saying the other day that the only thing that would make this whole event tolerable was being able to spend some time with Theo."

"That's actually why I called you," Madison said, delighted that a perfect opening had presented itself. "Is there any chance Warren would be willing to go to Aspen with Theo this weekend? I know it's short notice, but I've been trying to plan a little surprise ski trip for Theo for awhile." She found herself crossing her fingers on the hand not holding the phone, an old childhood habit she was never able to break.

"Really?" Bev's voice perked up. "Aspen? Is this a husband and wives weekend? We send the guys to the slopes while we hit the shops?"

"No," Madison said. "I want this to be just a weekend with the guys for him."

"Hm," Madison could hear Bev shuffling through papers, no doubt seeing what they were supposed to be doing this weekend. "Well, there is a community theater luncheon Saturday, but something tells me Warren would just love an excuse to miss this. I'll have to double check it with him, but I think he'll be delighted to go. Should I make plane reservations? What flight will Theo be taking?"

"I'm going to charter a plane," Madison said. "They might as well go in style."

"Good point," Bev said. "No excuses not to go then."

Madison caught Bev's intuition that the weekend might be more about getting Theo away, from her, than to give him a chance to go skiing, but she decided not to mention it. "I want to send him with at least two other friends, hopefully four. Any idea of who else I should call? Warren and Theo run in the same circles, so I'd like to send the both of them with friends they both like."

"Hm..." Bev's voice trailed off, thinking. "Alex Keller would love the chance and I know both Theo and Warren speak highly of him. And I'll bet Bitsy will practically push him out the door for a weekend alone."

"Really?" Madison tried not to be a gossip, but she couldn't help probing for some information. Bitsy Keller was one of those women who never seemed to have a bad day, never had a day when her hair wasn't perfect, never spilled soup down her blouse. She was perfectly nice, and therein was half the problem, Bitsy was just too perfect all around.

"Oh yes, Bev said, in that tone of voice that said, 'I have a secret and I shouldn't tell it, but it is just us girls, right?' "Lynne saw her leaving Lee's the other night, with a man who was most definitely _not_ Alex."

"Oh?" A part of Madison wanted to tell Bev to spill the beans, but that just wasn't how it was done. So, she used the tone of her voice to indicate she was very interested in hearing more. Lee's was a lovely restaurant, by all accounts, wonderful menu, excellent chief, very popular, but for some reason, it was not a place frequented by the circles they traveled in. It was a perfect place to meet someone for a good meal and a little romantic tryst.

"Yes!" Bev said, taking the bait in Madison's voice and happily telling all she had heard. "A very _handsome_ man, by all accounts."

"Could it have been a family friend?" Madison asked, knowing Beverly wanted her to play the skeptic, so she could trot out the evidence to back her claim.

"Honey, if this man was a friend of the family, then Bitsy grew up in the swamps." Bev's laugh traveled across the miles, into Madison's ear. "They were all _over_ each other."

Madison almost gasped before realizing the Beverly merely meant "Honey" as a term of affection, not a sign that she had found out Madison's birth name. She caught herself quickly and instead asked, "They were? In _public?_ " she let her voice show a modicum of titillated horror.

"According to Lynne, after they left the restaurant, as they were heading to the parking lot and they kept pausing to swap spit!"

" _Beverly!_ " Madison let just the right amount of shock flood into her voice, to give Beverly the impression that Madison admired Beverly's bold choice of words, even if she would never _dream_ of using such a crude expression herself. She wondered what Beverly would have thought of the way Honey spoke. Madison learned, when she started on this life, that it was far easier to pretend that she had never learned the art of being vulgar, then to try to find a happy middle where she could be just enough off color to be amusing.

* * *

_"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!"_

_He had his hands twisted in her hair, pulling it harder than she really would like and he was on his hands and knees, pounding her from behind, dog style. Normally, it was one of her favorite positions, but the way he was just pounding on her, she really wished he would just get off and get it over with. This was the third time he'd grabbed her and fucked her and he wasn't improving at all._

_She lowered her upper body so she was resting on her elbows instead of her hands and did her best to push back, encouraging him to finish up._ Jesus, _she thought,_ He said he was so awesome in bed, and he sucks. _She was grateful that the condoms she had were lubricated or else she'd be scraped raw._

_Finally, after what seemed like hours, he pulled out, ripped off the condom, and came all over her ass._ Wonderful _, she thought. She wasn't a big fan of that either. What was it with guys wanting to come on women? She never could understand why that was so popular, she found it vaguely insulting, like her pussy, even lined with a condom, wasn't quite good enough. Like these guys were jizzing liquid diamonds or something._

_"Oh yeah," he groaned, then fell onto her back, pushing them both down on the mattress. "That was fantastic, baby. You like that?"_

_"Yeah," she lied. "That was great."_

_"Good, plenty more where that came from," he said, reaching under to tweak one of her nipples. "Not tonight though... too tired." He rolled off of her and flopped on his back on the bed. "God I'm tired," he mumbled and in less than a minute, his breathing was slow and even, indicating he fell asleep._

_She lay there for half an hour or so, then slid out of the bed and went to her room. He was taking over most of Ma's bed anyway, hopefully he wouldn't get too upset._

_As she curled in her bed and drifted off to sleep, she hoped she hadn't gotten in over her head. She was used to guys not caring much about what she wanted in bed, but this guy was doing every single self centered, thing she hated. Could she deal with this for a week?_

_For a thousand dollars, she thought she could, but she sure wasn't looking forward to it. Why did guys have to promise the moon, when they couldn't even make her see stars?_

_End of Part II_


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While Madison works to get Theo gone for the weekend, she thinks back about the week she spent with the wrestler who changed her life.

With Bev's suggestions, Madison was able to find three other of Theo's friends who would love to go on a guy's Aspen weekend. Well, at least their wives were sure they would go and usually that was what was important. Besides, what skier in his right mind _wouldn't_ want a weekend in Aspen?

She arranged for a private plane to take them Friday night and to return them Sunday night. She and Theo didn't charter private planes too often, but they had done it enough that she knew what company to call and what arrangements to make. She also called Theo's secretary, Mayla, to make sure that there were no work issues Theo might have to attend to, and took Mayla into her confidence about the surprise ski trip. Mayla was thrilled about it, and told Madison she was so sweet for doing this. Mayla adored Theo, something that might have worried other women, because Mayla was a beautiful woman, but Mayla looked at Theo as a brother. She fussed over him, she did everything she could to make sure Theo's work time ran smoothly, but she never showed the slightest bit of romantic interest in him. Madison had seen them together a thousand times, times when they knew she was there, and other times when they didn't. She had never caught them acting any way inappropriate with each other. Never standing too close, never touching in a way that might be mistaken as intimate. She trusted Mayla. She trusted Theo even more.

She would tell Theo at dinner tonight. He might wonder why she suddenly wanted him to go skiing, but she felt she could handle that. "Darling, you work so hard," she murmured, practicing what she would say. "And you've been so wonderful about attending all these charity functions with me, I just want you to have a weekend of fun with your friends."

The only problem was that Theo was bound to wonder why she didn't want to go with him and she wasn't sure what she should say.

* * *

_"Wow,"_

_She woke up the next day to the sound of his voice and realized he was in her room. She opened her eyes, expecting he would be looking at her, but he was looking around her room, a look of surprise on his face._

_She sat up, rubbing her eyes, slightly embarrassed. Every available bit of wall space was covered with home made bookshelves, some of cinder blocks and boards, other simply of stolen milk crates. And the shelves were full of books. "What's wrong?" she asked, her voice defensive. There was nothing wrong with reading, she hated it when people laughed at her about it, asking her what was wrong with her, didn't she like TV? She liked TV just fine, especially wrestling and football, but she liked to read, too. They weren't mutually exclusive._

_"Nothing's wrong," he said, going over to one of the shelves and looking, "Hemingway, Stephen King, Nora Roberts. Your tastes run all over the place, don't they?"_

_She shrugged. Most of her books were gotten from garage sales, Sally's, or flea markets. Garage sales were the best, if you went late enough, people would practically give boxes of books to you, just to get rid of them. Flea markets were almost as good for that too. "I guess."_

_"Have you read all of these?" he asked._

_Again, she shrugged. "Pretty much." She motioned towards a paper bag full of her latest finds. "I'm working my way through those."_

_"That's impressive," he said, then walked over and sat down on the bed next to her. "Why did you sleep in here?" he asked. "I wanted to have some fun when I woke up."  
_

_"I-I don't know," she lied. "I was worried I might be restless and I wanted you to get some sleep."_

_He seemed to accept this explanation, but took her hand and got up from the bed. "C'mon, I want to take a shower with you."_

_She rose and followed him into the bathroom. It wasn't much, but there was a tub and shower and this wouldn't be the first time she had showered with a man in there. She was pretty sure he wanted to do her in the shower, so she insisted on brushing her teeth first. She saw a strange toothbrush in the holder and was grateful to see he had already brushed his own. If his performance from last night was any indication, shower sex with him wasn't going to be any great shakes, if he had horrible morning breath, she might not be able to stand it._

_He liked his shower at about the same temperature she did, so she didn't mind getting in with him. They washed each other down at first, him being rather business like about it, which surprised her, but soon enough, he was staring at her. "God, you have an awesome body."_

_"Thank you," she said. "So do you." He did too, she wasn't lying about that. He was a little thin compared to some of the wrestlers, but every inch of him was muscle._

_"Something else likes you too," he said, taking her hand and guiding it to his erection. She wrapped her fingers along it, stroking it as she knew he wanted. "Oh yeah," he groaned. "So, tell me, Honey, am I as good as I said I would be?"_

_She wanted to tell him the truth, wanted to say that whoever filled his head with the notion that he was good in bed was a goddamned liar and she would have slept with him just for the thousand bucks, but she was pissed that he had promised her so much more. But, that wasn't her style, so she nodded as she stroked him. "Yeah, baby, you're the best."_

_Suddenly he moved her hand off of him and then turned and shut off the shower. "Bullshit," he said, turning to face her again._

_"What?" His eyes were narrowed, staring at her with an angry expression._ Please don't be one of those guys, _she silently prayed._ Please don't be one of those guys who likes to beat the shit out of me, please, please, **please!** _She had run into that situation a few times, and it freaked her out. A couple of her girlfriends were into that, but not her. Pain was pain, and even worse, usually guys who were into that, were into anal too, and had no concept of lube. "What did I do?" She found herself backing away from him, cringing._

_"You're a fucking liar," he said, and his voice was so matter-of-fact that she was petrified that she had made the worst choice of her life. He would attack her, beat her, rape her, and then leave. The thousand dollars he promised would never happen, she'd just end up bruised and broken, possibly permanently. Wrestling might be scripted, but these guys were strong, they could hurt you. She'd been on the wrong end of their aggression twice, she didn't want to go through it again._

_"No," she said, trying to appease him. "No, baby, really, you're great. Best I ever had... I'll prove it, you want a blow job? C'mon baby, I know you loved my mouth last night, let me love you with it now." Her back was against the shower wall and he was moving closer._

_"Shh," he said, his voice suddenly low and soft. She was afraid, no she was terrified, that the soft, low voice was only to throw her into a false sense of relief, so he could come down on her. She debated if she could push him away, the shower was wet, maybe he'd crash into the tub and she could run out and..._

_And what? She was naked, and if she stopped for clothes, he'd just catch up to her. So, she just pushed her back further into the wall, shaking with fear._

_"Shh," he said again, and then put his hand under her chin and pushed gently to get her to look at him, she wanted to fight it, but she was afraid that would make him really angry and he'd hurt her even worse, so she let him raise her head and forced herself to look at him. His eyes didn't seem as cold as they seemed moments ago, in fact there was a curious light in them, what was that about?_

_Then he leaned over and kissed her. And unlike last night, this kiss was slow and sweet, even gentle. Their mouths were barely open and his lips were just covering hers, his tongue still in his mouth. She could feel their lips softening, and hardly aware she was doing it, she began responding, kissing him back. Then, and only then, did he start using his tongue, running along her lips at first, slowly as if asking for permission. She gave it by opening her mouth more, and his tongue slid into her mouth, not roughly, not invading it, but dancing in, exploring the inside of her mouth. She found her own tongue dancing with his as if it had a will of its own. It was slow, sweet, and delicious and easily the best kiss she ever had in her life. This was the kiss she imagined Prince Charming gave Sleeping Beauty when he woke her up, this was the kiss she had dreamed about all her life. Slow and sensual, as if they had all the time in the world, just to kiss._

_When they finally did break away, she stared at him. He had a lopsided grin on his face and the earlier anger she sensed was gone. "What the fuck is your game?" she found herself saying, before she could stop herself._

_"No game, Honey," he said, staring into her eyes. "I promised you mind blowing sex. I intend to deliver."_

_"What was last night, then?" she said, slightly annoyed that this man kept throwing her off her game, but even more so wishing he'd kiss her again like he just had._

_"Last night was seeing if you'd make me keep my promise," he said, "But let's not worry about last night." And then he did kiss her again, and this time wrapped his arms around her, and she did the same, their wet, naked bodies pressed together and she found her nipples hardening and she felt a different moisture than the water from the shower, forming between her legs, all because of a kiss._

_When she almost fell down, because her knees were so weak, he caught her and helped her out of the tub. "It's a little bit slippery in there," he said, as he helped her stand on the mat. "I don't want you to get hurt." Then he took a towel off the rack and started drying her off in the same slow and deliberate way he kissed her. He started with her shoulders and moved down. She put her arms by her sides and he dried those next, not rubbing, but more patting the water away with the towel. Then he moved across her stomach._

_Even when he got to her breasts, her butt, all those erogenous zones, he did nothing to indicate they were any different from any other part of Honey's body. He dried them the same way, and yet there was something erotic about that too, as if by not treating those areas as special, her whole body was special. And when she was dry, he scooped her up in his arms and carried her, the both of them naked, back to her room, to her little single bed. He laid her down on the sheets and looked down at her. He had looked at her last night like a starving man would look at a meatloaf dinner. He was looking at her now like a man who lacked for nothing might look at a fine piece of fine art, as if last night he satisfied his body, now he would use her to satisfy his soul._

_Then he moved on the bed and knelt between her legs, gently moving them apart. Honey could count on both hands but no feet the amount of time she had a guy perform oral on her, and most of the time it seemed more like a way to lube her up quickly. A few licks, like an old family pooch might lick your hand, then it was right back to doing what made him happy. But he was different. He rubbed along her thighs first with his hands, encouraging her legs to relax and fall to the sides. Then he kissed up one leg, from ankle to inner thigh, then moved across, completely ignoring between her legs, but instead kissing down the other one. When he got to her ankle, he went back to her other leg, but this time, he only kissed up to her knee, then ran his tongue from her knee, up her thigh and this time he certainly didn't ignore her sex, but ran his tongue along the length of it, very, very, **very** slowly. _

_She found herself clutching at the sheets on the bed, twisting them in her hands, unable to stop herself, but part of her waited for that to be it, that he would climb on her, but part of her didn't mind, just for those kisses, it had been worth it. She knew she would dream about those kisses for weeks, probably years to come._

_But that wasn't it, and he kept using his mouth, licking, sucking, nibbling her most intimate area, and she found herself gasping and moaning, twisting about like a fish on a hook. No one had ever done this for her before, made her feel like every nerve in her body was glowing with a fire that burned as bright as real fire, but was the opposite of pain. She wanted to tell him how wonderful it was, just like guys had told her so many times, she wanted to yell, to scream, 'Yes, that's it, baby, yes! Don't stop!' but she was in a place beyond words, all she could make her mouth do was go, "Oh! Oh!" over and over again, like a stupid child stuck on one letter of the alphabet._

_When he drew that most sensitive bundle of nerves into his lips and started gently sucking, and then eased a finger into her, she found herself not just coming, but exploding into a nameless bliss. Orgasm was not the word for it, there were no words for it. And she found herself bending back, arching her back in the air, her head digging into the pillow, and a scream escaped her, something she had never done in her life, not a moan, but a long, low, wail, as if in agony, and perhaps a part of her was, not for this, but for all the times she had sex before and that this was the only time it was so perfect, so good._

_She finally pushed his head away, because she was just too sensitive to let him continue. He stopped sucking, but continued to ease his finger in and out of her, slowly, deliberately, which kept some of the fire burning in her, but it wasn't enough, she needed more, she needed-_

_"Please?" she asked, looking at him._

_"Please, what?" He was still moving that finger and it felt wonderful, it felt good, but she knew she could have so much more, and she wanted it. All of it. More than want, she **needed** it. _

_"Please," she said, and realized this was another first, a first time she would beg for this and really mean it. "Please fuck me, please?"_

_"Do you have any condoms?" he asked, and still that finger slid in and out of her, slow and easy._

_She reached over to the battered nightstand and fumbling, managed to open the top drawer. Did she have condoms? Of course she did! Still, he didn't stop with the finger, just kept sliding it in and out, slow but steady and where normally, this might have calmed her down, let her body readjust, now it was just making her want him even more. Her hand fumbled around in the drawer, seeming to find every single thing in there **but** the condoms. Small notebooks she used to write things down, a couple of paperbacks she turned to when she wanted to read something comforting and familiar, her birth control pills (because condoms were great, but she was **not** going to risk pregnancy) but not the damned condoms._

_She looked at him, thinking of the pills and swallowed. "Are you clean?" she asked, hoping he didn't take this as a turn off._

_He stared at her, that finger still moving. "I've never had sex without a condom and I get checked every thirty days. You?"_

_"Never without a condom, and my last blood check was two weeks ago," she said, trying not to pant. "And I'm on these." She pulled out the pill container and showed it to him, flipping open the lid so he could see all the little pills that were supposed to be missing, were missing._

_He looked at the container, then at her. "Do we risk it?'_

_She didn't hesitate. "Yes." And the container of pills slipped from her fingers, falling on to the bed, but she didn't take her eyes off of him as he slid the finger out of her and started moving up her body. She found herself reaching between them, her intent to coax him with her fingers, but she didn't have to coax him, he was ready, the part of him she wanted so badly, thick and almost pulsing in her hands, and she felt the warmth of it, as if the same fire she had felt when he was going down on her had somehow spread to him. Honey, the girl who'd been fucked more times than she could count, had never wanted anyone as much as she wanted this man, this almost stranger to her, who had used and abused her the night before, then terrorized her in the shower. Was she sick? Maybe, but she didn't care. She guided him to her opening, and he eased inside of her, just the tip of him, looking into her eyes._

_"Last chance," he said, panting slightly. "Do you want it like this? Or should I pull out and you search your drawer for those condoms?"_

_"I want it like this," she said. "Please?"_

_And he eased into her, slowly but steadily, matching the pace his finger had been doing moments ago, sliding all the way inside of her, until their bellies were touching and oh, it was so much better than his finger, it felt so much thicker and she felt so much fuller and somehow more alive._

_She had always heard that there was little difference for a woman between a wrapped and unwrapped guy, but she swore she felt a huge difference; he felt hotter and she swore she could feel the veins, the texture of his skin. She felt as if her body was reforming itself to mold around him, to be the perfect fit for him, and she raised her hips to get that slight fraction more of him into her, knowing she would never be satisfied until she knew she had all of him inside her that was possible. And he was pressing into her too, as if trying to give her that final fraction. And they stayed like that for awhile, pressed into each other as if trying to melt into each other and it felt good, so **damned** good. _

_"Think we ought to move a little, babe?" he asked, looking down into her eyes._

_If it felt this good just having him inside of her, she could only imagine what it would feel like to have him move inside of her, so she nodded._

_"Well, you'll have to move your legs then," he said, grinning._

_She realized then she had wrapped her legs around his waist so tightly, as if trying to capture him inside her forever. Slightly embarrassed, she unlocked her legs and let them move to either side of his hips. Part of her expected him to go fast and furious, and she didn't think she'd mind that at all, but instead he moved slowly, languidly, but fluidly, as if they were both under water. And she found herself moving with him, both of them finding a mutual, easy rhythm, as if they had been doing this forever._

_Even though she had wanted him, wanted this, him deep inside of her, she thought that the ultimate pleasure in this was for him alone, but much to her surprise, she started to feel the coals that were left from her earlier orgasm being fanned back into that fiery heat, something that had never happened to her before. She started thrusting up harder, encouraging him to go faster and thrust harder, he took her encouragement and sped up. She knew this was risky, usually the faster and harder, the quicker it was over, but she didn't care, she wanted him to pound her, to possess her, to-_

_-to fuck her._

_She thought she knew what fucking was, she thought she had been doing it since she was thirteen. Fucking was not caring about the other person, fucking was just doing it, for whatever selfish reasons. But now she knew better; what she had been doing was having sex. Clinical, detached sex. Fucking wasn't making love, you had to love someone to make love and she knew she wasn't in love with this guy. Fucking was about letting yourself go, to give yourself over to this glorious feeling. It was primal, it was animal. It was wonderful._

_It was a day for firsts and the next first for her was that they both found the release at the same time and she wanted to cry out, her body almost demanded she cry out, but it was so overwhelming, that she found herself just throwing her head back, mouth open as if in silent cry to the universe._

_And when he collapsed on top of her, unable to stop herself, she bit his shoulder so hard that she almost drew blood._

* * *

It was the sound of her cell phone chiming that she had a message that broke Madison out of her thoughts. It was Theo, no big surprised, the man was as regular as clockwork.

_If we don't have any plans tonight, I plan to be home around 8:00, does that work for you?_

She had to give it to Theo, he was always polite and considerate. If she told him they had a function tonight, or had promised to have dinner with someone, he would have rearranged things at work to be home. Unlike most of her friends with working husbands, she almost never showed up to an event alone, where both of them had been invited. It certainly wasn't that Theo didn't work hard, he was usually in his office by 6:00 in the morning, and almost never home before 6:00 at night, often even later. He was the owner of the company, and he took that responsibility seriously, which was why the company was listed in the Fortune 500. Not just for top businesses, but for top places to work, something else Madison was proud of him for doing too. He was a good man, Theo, a very good man. The type of man who could own and run a highly profitable business, and yet still be good to his employees.

So, why was she actually considering this?

She typed back her message:

_8:00 will be fine, I'll tell Louis._

Louis was their personal chef. 

* * *

_They spent almost the whole day in bed together, before hunger finally forced them to go out searching for food. There was nothing much in the apartment, but that was fine with him. "I promised to feed you," he said. "So, where do we eat?"_

_They went to a small diner within walking distance of the apartment. The place was cheap, but the food wasn't bad and there was plenty of it, and that's what mattered right now._

_It wasn't until their cheeseburgers were delivered that she finally worked up the courage to ask him again what his game was._

_"What do you mean?" he asked, picking up his burger and taking a bite._

_"You played some game with me and I'm not sure how I feel 'bout that," she said. "You tell me how awesome you are, how you gone blow my mind, but last night you were just like any other guy, maybe even a little worse, and this morning, I thought it was more of the same."_

_"Was it?" He was chewing the bite he took while she was talking._

_"No," she admitted. "That **was** mind blowing. So, why you didn't show me that last night? You wouldn't have woke up alone." _

_He grinned. "But I did keep my promise, right?"_

_"Yeah," she said. "But that ain't the point." She ate one of her fries. This place had awesome fries, they were hot and crisp, just how she liked them, with a faintly sweet taste to them, as if the oil hadn't been changed in awhile. "Point is that you were playing me for some game and I don't know why. I kept my end of the deal."_

_"I know that," he said. "I wanted to see if you'd make me keep mine."_

_"What's that 'posed to mean?" she asked, her brows furrowing._

_"I promised you three things," he said, reaching over and taking one of her fries, ignoring her protests. "A thousand dollars, which I'll still give you-"_

_"When?" she asked, reaching over to his plate and stealing one of his onion rings, deciding if he didn't like it, he could just lump it. Tit for tat, said the cat._

_"When I'm leaving."_

_"How do I know you'll do it?"_

_"You'll just have to trust me." He grinned and stole another fry, which he popped into his mouth._

_"Would you stop stealing my fries?" she asked him, frowning. "You wanted fries, you could have ordered them."_

_"I like onion rings too." He picked up one of his onion rings and popped it in his mouth, chewing happily. Not crudely like so many of the guys she spent time with, but with enthusiasm, as if he was really enjoying the batter dipped, greasy circles. She liked him for that, it was just such a normal thing._

_He was still grinning. She knew he wasn't much older than she was, two years, three tops. Yet there was something about him that made him seem a lot older than his years. "Okay, so you gone give me that grand when you leave an' I have to trust you on that one. What else you promise me?" She took another one of his onion rings, because the onion rings here weren't that bad either._

_His grin turned into a frown for a moment. "Honey, you should know what you've been promised in life. But okay, I promised to feed and take care of you this week, which I believe I'm doing, right now, even if you do keep stealing my onion rings." The grin returned as he took another fry from her plate._

_"Only 'cause you stealing my fries!" she protested._

_"And," he continued, ignoring her protest over his fast food crimes. "I promised you mind blowing sex. Then, last night I was a selfish bastard who was only interested in pleasing myself. But, this morning I showed you I wasn't lying. What does that tell you?"_

_She frowned. "That you won't give me the grand when you leave, you give me ten bucks instead. Then you'll mail the grand to me in a week."_

_He laughed then, a warm, friendly laugh, and took another bite of his burger. "Honey, I like you," he said, once he had chewed and swallowed. "You've got a bang dead body, a beautiful face, and you're intelligent."_

_"Thank you," she said, blushing a bit. The body and face she was used to being complimented on. Her intelligence was another matter. Not that people called her stupid, they didn't, but most of the guys she knew didn't care if she was smart as an owl, or dumb as an ox, they just cared about what holes she had to put their dicks into. "But you still ain't answering my question; why did you do it? Why did you make me think last night that you were nothin' but a liar?"_

_He got really serious then and stopped eating. "Honey, if someone promises you something good, you need to make sure you get it."_

_"Huh?" Her hand, holding one of his onion rings, stopped half way to her mouth and she ended up putting the onion ring on her plate instead. "What's that 'posed to mean?"_

_"Exactly what I said." He reached over and took her hand. "If someone makes you a promise, you make sure they deliver. You should have spoken up last night, told me after that blow job, which was mind blowing, by the way, but you should have said right then, that I wasn't holding up my end of the deal."_

_"What if I had?" she asked, her brow furrowed, because she had never even considered such a thing as asking a guy to deliver in bed what he promised. Guys were always promising they were good and falling short. "What would have happened?"_

_"You would have woken up in my arms, purring like a cat," he said, without any hesitation. "And we would have done what we did this morning, but probably in your mom's room."_

_"All guys talk a bigger game than they ever give you." She sighed and ate the onion ring on her plate. "It's just the way guys are."_

_"Exaggeration is to be expected," he said, "lying isn't. If a guy promises you mind blowing sex, you give him one shot and then you tell him you're not interested."_

_"Oh, that'll make me popular with my crowd," she said, rolling her eyes. "I do that an' I'll never get laid."_

_"You can probably do a better job of sexing yourself up with your fingers and an electric toothbrush," he countered, taking a few more of her fries. "So, really, does it matter?"_

_She had to give him that, he had a point there. She thought of the nights she had spent with guys who really hadn't done anything for her but waste her time and leave her high and dry. If she was honest with herself, which he seemed to want her to be, she wasn't sure why she kept this game up, hanging with the other rats, hanging around the indy guys. Sure, when she started, she was just so happy they even noticed her, happy that they were so willing to screw an underage girl that she didn't care. But, now that it had been going on, not for days, but for years, she wondered why she kept it up. Was it really all that great? Was it worth it?_

_When they were walking back to the apartment, he put his arm around her and pulled her close. "Have you learned anything?" he asked._

_"Yeah," she said. "We go there again and **I'm** ordering the onion rings, **you** can order the fries. I might get more'n two fries, then." _

_He laughed for a moment like this was the funniest joke he'd ever heard, then he stopped, wrapped both arms around her and kissed her again like he had that morning, and just like this morning, the world seemed to shrink until it was just the two of them._

_End of Part III_


	4. Chapter 4

Time was running out and Madison knew it. He said he needed to know by Thursday and she knew he meant that he wanted to wake up Thursday morning and see a response in his box.

She turned again to her laptop, where the email was still sitting there. _Last chance, Honey,_ she thought, barely realizing she had mentally called herself by her former name. Slowly, she typed her reply.

_You are welcome to, as you say, "Crash" here. I look forward to seeing you again._

She studied the message and frowned. It wasn't right, it was Madison talking. He knew about Madison, but he wasn't hoping to visit Madison, he wanted to visit Honey. She erased the message and started again.

_Yeah, that would be great, I'd like to see you too._

Before she could talk herself out of it, she hit the "send" button.

* * *

_The next few days went about as she expected them to. She had an apartment to herself, and they both had friends. The place turned into a hang out with people constantly coming and going, bringing in plenty of booze and pot. He didn't do pot, which Honey did do sometimes, but he did drink._

_Honey had grown up in a party place, thanks to Ma, so she knew the score and didn't freak when she found people crashed out in the morning all over the place. He was cool with it too, except for Honey's bedroom. If people went into Ma's room to crash or screw, he said nothing. But if they went to Honey's he stopped them._

_"Aw, chill bro," one guy said, when he caught him and Kiki trying to slip inside there. "We ain't gonna have it, but for an hour or so, probably less."_

_"If you even **think** about having sex on that bed, I will cut off your dick and shove it down your throat," he said, with a grin so big and bright that you just knew he meant every single word of it. There was something off balance about that grin, as if he was some type of predator, waiting for an excuse to attack._

_"What's the big deal?" Kiki asked, licking her lips, clearly checking him out. Kiki liked living on the edge and he looked a bit edgy. "Honey's my friend, she won't mind."_

_"No, but I will," he said, looking at Kiki with a look that clearly said he didn't think she was worthy of wiping his ass with her tongue. "That's the room we're using and you'll stay the fuck out, understand?"_

_"Yeah," the other guy, his friend finally said. "I get you. Don't know why you're being like this, but I get you."_

_After one day, no one even tried. Honey had walked into people having sex in the bathroom and in the kitchen, and Ma's room reeked so badly of sex that Honey knew she'd have to wash the sheets and air it out for a week to get rid of the stench. But no one tried to go into her room or use her bed._

_And every night, when most of the partiers had left, he took her into that tiny room and fucked her until she passed out from the sheer bliss. They tried every position they could think of, a few she hadn't even tried with anyone else before. It didn't matter, it was all fantastic._

_She found that the more he pleased her, the more she wanted to please him. Where blow jobs and hand jobs were often a chore, something she was often made to feel she had to do, with him, she found herself wanting to. She looked forward to his dick being in her mouth, knowing that he would return the favor, and also, just enjoying knowing she was keeping her end of the bargain. He wasn't just taking her out to the edge, they were taking the trip together._

_She knew if she wasn't careful, she would end up falling in love with him. And while part of her wanted that, part of her wanted the whole experience of having a first love, the practical side of her knew better. He would leave at the end of the week, head back to the territory his group covered. He would forget about her, until maybe they saw each other again when the circles they moved in bumped against each other._

* * *

Madison never had any reason to complain about Theo not keeping his word and tonight was no exception. He walked in the door at 8:03. She came to meet him as he was hanging his coat in the closet.

She called him Darling, he called her Sweetheart. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her sweetly, but there was some real passion behind it, too. Their friends were somewhat envious of their marriage, and maybe had good reason. They had been married three years and everyone could see their marriage still had a freshness to it. A lot of couples they knew started taking their spouses for granted after about a year and a half. They didn't. They still ate dinner together, they talked together. Evenings where he didn't have to work or they didn't have plans, they talked. They still went on date nights together every Friday night, unless he was out of town. Even if they had a function to go to, they would either go before someplace, just the two of them, or go out afterwords.

Her favorite times were afterwords, because it was usually late and just about every place they "should" be seen in was closed. They would rush home and change into casual clothing, and then like giggling school children trying to get away with something naughty, they would go to one of those all night diners like Denny's and order outrageously bad food. Or, if they weren't that hungry, they would get a banana split and share it, along with cups of strong diner coffee, dumping in cream and sugar and laughing, feeling carefree. If their friends had seen them, they'd be shocked, but it didn't matter. There was something so delightful about being some place their friends would never understand. And, fortunately, they were low key enough that the paparazzi didn't feel the need to follow them everywhere they went. They were photographed at various function, they made the society pages at least once a month, but other than that they were just a tiny bit too 'boring' to capture their attention. Even though Madison was twenty five, an age where she might have tried to get in good with the young celebrity crowd, she never did, that wasn't her thing. In fact, most people thought she was older than her age, which wasn't to say she had aged fast. Madison had the classic good looks and bone structure that would assure that from now until she was in her late '40s to mid '50s she would look the same, as long as she took care of herself, which she did. She worked out and those late night trips to Denny's were the only poor eating she did. It was not surprising that people thought she was in her early '30s and she did little to discourage that thought. She liked being considered older and more settled. Honey had done enough partying for ten people in her short life, Madison didn't have to.

They ate dinner in the breakfast nook instead of the dining room. They both loved the nook with its three glass walls that looked out over the gardens. Even though it was dark, the lights were on showing their ten acres of beautifully manicured and landscaped back yard with its fountains and flowering trees and the many different types of roses. Neither of them were gardeners, but they had one of the finest living in one of the cottages in the back and he put his heart and soul into their garden, treating it as if it were his own.

They were having fish tonight, a food that normally bored her, but Louis could do fantastic things with fish. Things that didn't add too many calories, but would turn boring fish into a symphony of flavors. They paid Louis 400 dollars a day to work five days a week for them, plus he had a small apartment with a private entrance off of the kitchen, that he lived in rent free. If Louis had to work on one of his days off, which sometimes happened, they paid him 5-6 hundred for those days. Louis was worth every penny and even Honey, the part of her she tried to kill, but who still lived in her head, had to agree his food was wonderful.

It was over desert, a delicious berry sorbet with a small glass of good, chilled white wine, that she decided to bring up her plans for him for the weekend. "Darling," she began.

He looked up from the sorbet. "Am I in trouble?" His gray-blue eyes sparkled merrily. Theo was handsome, she could never deny that. Dark hair and eyes that could shift from stern to amused in the blink of an eye. Chiseled features too. He wasn't quite model handsome, but if he had decided to go into wrestling (yes, hysterically funny, the thought of Theo being a wrestler) he would have commanded more than his fair share of attention. He kept in shape too, there was a full gym at the headquarters of his business, and just like she had a personal trainer, he worked out from the office every day. If not for a solid hour or two, in fifteen to half hour chunks when he could find the time. He had a beautiful body and a handsome face. She hadn't compromised looks for money, that was certain.

"Now, why would you say that?" she asked, in a light, teasing tone.

"Well, you've been quiet at dinner tonight, and now you say 'Darling' like you've been bracing yourself to tell me something, I'm wondering what's going on." He reached out and took her hand. "Is everything all right?"

Damn it, did he have to be so perceptive too? Would he suspect the gift now, because she had been acting nervous? Or would he think she was acting nervous because of the gift? "I call you darling all the time," she said, keeping her voice light, almost flirtatious. "And I haven't been bracing to tell you something, I've been bracing to give you, something."

"Oh?" his head tipped to one side and he studied her. "There's no occasion for a gift that I know of. So, why?

She had an envelope she had put in the room earlier, with the information he would need for the flight, the cabin, everything. "Who says I need an occasion to give the man I love, a gift?" she asked as she handed him the envelope.

* * *

_The last day he was there, he took her out to dinner. They had gotten rid of the partiers that morning and he had actually helped her clean the place up. Knowing he was going to be leaving her soon, she would have rather spent the whole day in bed with him, having one last long session of sex, but he said they had the night for that and she really didn't want to clean the place alone, so she agreed.  
_

_So far, he had kept his end of the bargain. Every bit of food she had eaten that week, he paid for. He even bought her cigarettes, which was nice too. The places he took her weren't fancy, but she wasn't a fancy kind of girl. But that last night, he took her to a nice place. Probably the nicest place she'd ever been to in her life. The tables had cloth table covers, even the napkins were cloth. They gave you water too, right at your table, and you didn't even have to ask. But the biggest freak out was that her menu didn't have prices._

_"They made a mistake on my menu," she complained. "Ain't got no prices."_

_"That's not a mistake," he said, grinning. "That's deliberate. You're not supposed to know how much things cost."_

_"That's crazy," she shook her head. "What if money is tight?"_

_"Then you don't come here," he said._

_"What if I were buying the meal?" she asked, still defensive. The place was putting her off a bit, it was a little too nice. Even though she was wearing a conservative skirt and blouse, she still felt everyone was staring at her, thinking,_ Cheap whore. _"It's not the last century, women can buy the meal just as easily as the man can."_

_"Are you buying the meal?" he asked. When she shook her head, he grinned. "Then don't worry about it. Order what you want and enjoy it."_

_There would come a day when Honey would realize that the place was more pretentious than good. That the food was okay, but could have been so much better. That the place was more of a joke, a place where society wannabes went instead of the real thing. That it was all smoke and no substance. If the place had really been as elegant as they wanted everyone to think, they never would have made it through the door. They were too low class. As the saying went, you could put lipstick on a pig, but it was still a pig. You could put a dress shirt and slacks or a pretty blouse and skirt on a couple of project kids, but they were still project kids. She would also realize later that the "blind menu" she had gotten was something he had requested, not a normal policy for the place. That tradition had died, except by request, by the end of the 1980s._

_But, at that point in her life, it was the most elegant, beautiful place she had ever been in her life. And once she got over the shock of no prices on her menu, she found she liked being able to order without worrying about what it would cost, knowing he would pay. She ordered what she wanted to order and he didn't make a peep. The food was the best she'd ever eaten, even if her chicken did come with a weird sauce on it. She liked the sauce though, once she tried it, it had a different flavor that she was used to, both creamy and cheesy with a hint of wine and spices she couldn't identify._

_He wasn't 21 yet, so they didn't even try to order alcohol. They ordered sparkling grape juice, which came in long stemmed fluted glasses that she could easily imagine were magic and would make the most mundane liquid in them taste wonderful. And the waiter fussed around them, calling them "Sir" and "Madam" like they were his bosses or something. That made her a little bit nervous, but he seemed to be fine with it._

_When they finished with desert, some beautiful dish with cherries that they lit on fire at the table, she leaned back in her seat and grinned at him. "This was the best meal I ever ate."_

_He returned her grin with one of his own. "I'm glad you liked it."_

_"Yeah, I did. Bet it weren't cheap, neither."  
_

_"Don't worry about prices," he said. "I've got it covered. And I still have your thousand," he added, before she could object. "I'll give it to you tomorrow, I promise."_

_"Coo," she said, nodding. She had enjoyed this week a whole lot, but she still had her eyes on the prize. He'd be gone after his match tomorrow, but that thousand dollars would last her a long time, if she was careful._

_"So, what will you do with the money?" he asked._

_"Not sure yet," she said, carefully. She didn't want to tell him anything, so he wouldn't pass judgment on her and possibly decide she wasn't worthy. That wasn't part of the deal. "Save most of it, spend it slow. Not tell my Ma about it."_

_"Good, don't tell your mom," he nodded his approval as well. "She'd have you give it over to her and it'll just disappear."_

_"Ain't your job to judge, Ma," she said, feeling slightly defensive. He was absolutely right, of course, but he'd never met Ma, and she felt surprisingly defensive of her._

_"I don't have to judge, I'm stating facts. But you know the truth." The check had been delivered and he slid some bills into the leather case, and shut it. "Let's go, Honey girl, I feel like a smoke."_

_It was a clear night, cool but not cold. They walked along the river near the restaurant. He gave her one of his cigarettes and they smoked for awhile, just walking, until they both sat down at one of the benches that overlooked the water. "Did you really like the restaurant?" he asked._

_She nodded. "It was great. It's like a fairy tale, something I'll probably never do again."_

_"Why not?"_

_She looked at him, but he was looking out over the water, not looking at her. "Baby, I loved this week, but no guy I ever date will take me to a place like that."_

_"Then why do you date these guys?" He kept staring out at the water, taking the occasional drag off of his cigarette and blowing the smoke out of his nose. "If you can even call it dating. They take you to parties they'd go to anyway, they take you to their bedroom so they can get their rocks off. What do they do for you?"_

_She fidgeted on the bench, not knowing what to say. He still wasn't looking at her. After a long time, she finally said, "I'm not complaining."_

_"You should," he said. "You should be bitching about it. Because you're worth so much more."_

_"Yeah, sure." She was glad he couldn't see her roll her eyes. "You know my future. One of these days, I'll probably get myself in trouble and have a kid. If I'm lucky, guy'll marry me, but more likely he'll live with me so I can collect ADC and that'll only last 'till he finds a prettier peice of tail to catch."_

_"And that's all you want in life?"_

_"Ain't much more for someone like me."_

_He flicked his cigarette into the river, then turned and looked at her. "Honey, I'm not the type of guy who judges. I'm also not the type of guy to hand out advice, so this is new to me. But I'm going to give you some advice now. You're smart, Honey. You read so much, so I know you know there's more to the world than what you live. And, you're beautiful. Yeah, people say that beauty shouldn't matter, but it does. A pretty face can get you far. A pretty face with a sharp mind behind it can get you anywhere. And that's you, Honey. A beautiful face, a fantastic body, and a smart, sharp, mind. If I were you, I'd take that thousand dollars I give you and buy some good clothes. Nothing too outrageous, but something nice, something that is well made, because people who go to that restaurant we were just at? They know good quality. So, no Kmart, no Walmart, go to a nice place. Get a couple nice outfits. Maybe get some better makeup. If the grand is enough after the clothes and the shoes, go to the galleria, to one of the nicer shops and buy some good makeup and ask them to help you with it. When you're done with that? Get a job. Not a job at Hooters or at the corner store near your house, but a job where better people will come in. One of the galleria shops. You could work the makeup counters, they'd love you. And study successful people. See how they dress, how they talk. Emulate them. Move up in this world."_

_"Maybe this is all I'm good for," she said. "Yeah, I am pretty, and I am smart, but no one cares that I'm smart. All they care about is that I blow 'em and fuck 'em. That's all my friends care about too. Who they gonna get to fuck 'em now. Yeah, I like the wrestling, but that's only a few hours a week. The rest of the time it's partying and getting laid."_

_"Okay, so, you want to be a whore? That's fine. But get something for your trouble. You're good in bed, Honey. You might be the best I've ever had and I don't say that mildly. If you want to fuck around, do it, but get something for it." He stood up abruptly and offered his hand. "Come on, Honey. Let's go back to your place for one last night. We'll blow each other's minds one more time and tomorrow, you get a thousand bucks. Maybe you'll take my advice, maybe you won't. But I said it. What you do is up to you."_

_She took his hand and let him take her home, but she dismissed his advice. Yeah, right, she should get something for her troubles? Weren't her friends complaining about that all the time? But they stayed right with it, they kept doing the same thing over and over again. She might be beautiful, she might even be smart, like he said she was, but why fill her head full of stupid notions? Nothing better would ever happen to her._

_Would it?_

End of Part IV


	5. Chapter 5

Theo studied the contents in the envelope looking puzzled, then he finally put it together. "You're giving me a weekend in Aspen?"

She nodded. "Not just _a_ weekend, _this_ weekend," she smiled as she spoke, hoping he was please. "And before you object, I talked to Mayla and she said you're cleared as far as the office goes, and there's nothing around here that can't be missed."

"Wow," he was looking over the printouts from the house they would be using. "This place sounds wonderful!"

"They have a full time housekeeper and chef, as well as a car and driver at your disposal," she said. "So, all you need to do is to hit the slopes and have fun. I even chartered a private plane so you can bring all your ski equipment so you don't have to rent."

"This is a big house," he noted. "Who else is going with us?"

"Us?" She smiled, just as she had practiced. "No, I'm not going with you. Warren, Alex Keller, and a couple other of your friends will be going. I've talked to the wives and they say it's all set."

"But you love Aspen!" he protested.

"Not as much as you do. I want this to be a guy's weekend. You work so hard and I've been dragging you from one function to another on weekends, just as your friends have been getting dragged about by their wives. I just want you to have a weekend where you don't have to worry about that, where you can go skiing with your friends and have a good time."

He looked at her with an odd expression that at first she was worried that he was upset, but then she realized he was overwhelmed. "I can't believe you did this for me," he said.

She smiled and shrugged, feeling guilty but refusing to let it show. "It's not that big of a deal," she said, and that was fairly honest. "I found the place, I booked it and the plane. Then, I called Bev and the other wives and we all agreed you men need a guy's weekend. You know, a chance to ski all day and sit around scratching yourselves and drinking beer at night."

"And farting too," he said with a small chuckle. "Can't forget the farting!" Then, his face grew serious and he rose from his seat and went over to her chair, leaned over and kissed her sweetly on the lips. "Thank you, Madison, this is wonderful."

"You're welcome," she kissed him back and it was sweet, it was very sweet. She just wished she felt more honest about the gift, that it truly was something she just wanted to do for him instead of a cover up.

"But what will you do this weekend?" he asked, sitting down again and looking over the paperwork, especially the pictures of the house. "Won't you be bored?"

"Not at all," she assured him. "I could use a quiet weekend myself."

He nodded, then grinned. "I've figured you out!" he exclaimed.

She almost choked, afraid he had figured it out, all of it, her past, what she was planning, that she was a big fraud, even though she knew that was ridiculous. "Oh?" she managed to say without her voice squeaking.

"You're going to spend the weekend reading," he said, an amused look on his face. "Take some long baths with your books, read in bed, just enjoy yourself. Maybe have a girls night out, or an afternoon lunch, but mostly, read. Am I right?"

She smiled, wanting to give a sigh of relief, but she stopped herself. "You figured me out," she said.

"I've always been good at that," he bragged. "Well, I hope you have a truly relaxing weekend. You deserve it too."

* * *

_He gave her the thousand dollars that next morning, along with his email address. He mentioned nothing about their conversation the night before and neither did she. She gave him her email address. He left after the show and she ended up going to Wydell's place for the night. She found out Wydell was into bondage games, which she tolerated, but didn't really enjoy. Then, one night he zip tied her legs and feet to the bed and after playing with her for a few hours, went out to his kitchen to get a drink and passed out on his living room couch, leaving her tied up all night. The next morning she was so sore and so miserable that she was crying and begging. When he finally woke up and came in, instead of being sorry and releasing her, he fucked her because, "You looked so hot, baby." She almost peed on him, she had to go so bad and when he finally did cut the ties, she went to the bathroom, got dressed, and walked out, never to speak to him again._

_That was the point where she started thinking of what he had said and wondering if she really could do it. She did buy one outfit as he suggested, having a nice sales clerk help her pick out what would be appropriate. And, instead of buying makeup she got a job at the makeup counter at Macy's, and didn't have to buy it, because they gave her plenty of the product, expecting her to wear it at work. She learned how to apply makeup correctly, to put it on in such a subtle way that many people didn't think she was wearing it._

_She did well at the make up counter and learned a lot from the people she dealt with, and mostly her customers. She used the discount to an advantage to build up a small wardrobe of standard, quality made pieces that never went out of fashion, that she could mix and match, with some fashionable blouses and accessories. She learned what cosmetic jewelry was fine and what was considered cheap._

_As soon as she could, she got an apartment away from the projects. It wasn't the best side of town, but it wasn't the worst either. And she shared this tiny three bedroom apartment with four other girls. But that was okay, she saved money that way. She stopped going to wrestling matches, stopped even watching it. Instead, she started reading even more, not just fiction, but books about etiquette and self help books. She started watching TV, not for enjoyment, but to study people. She started emulating people on TV that came across as educated. Not necessarily the accent, although she had left most of her project speech behind, but what words they said and which ones they did not._

_When she had enough money saved up, she moved out of state, leaving Ma behind. She hadn't been contacting Ma much at all towards the end, so it didn't really hurt. Ma had decided she was stuck up and Honey didn't care. He had been right, there was a better world out there and she was going to have it all._

_It was when she moved out of state that she decided to go all out. She legally changed her name and started making up a fictional background. Her parents had died when she was young and she had been raised by an elderly aunt who had died shortly after her eighteenth birthday. She never tried to make a claim that she was someone of great importance. never tried to claim her parents were on the social register, she knew such lies would be too easy to find out. But, with small anecdotes and occasional deliberate "slips of the tongue" she manage to leave people with the impression that she had come from a good family that had fallen on hard times, that she came from "good stock."_

_She took night courses in computer and worked as a receptionist for various companies. She switched jobs often, but every job she took was higher up in the social ladder than the one she had before. And she did well at these jobs. More important, she made friends and learned from these friends. She had a sharp mind for organization and good phone skills so every chance she got, she volunteered to help with any type of "upper class" charity function. And even though she was beautiful, she was always sure to know her place. She befriended the wives and the girlfriends, never ever the husbands or boyfriends. She wasn't cold to the men, but she made it clear that she would never dream of walking in someone else's territory. But to the wives and girlfriends? She was good. She listened to their problems, never being pushy, never offering advice, just listening and comforting. She cheered on the good things, she consoled them with the bad. They adored her, Madison Montgomery, the lovely young lady with the tragic past, who was so sweet, so kind, such a good conversationalist. She learned that to most people a good conversationalist had more to do with listening than talking. These women constantly fixed her up with brothers, cousins, and best friends of their husbands and boyfriends. She went on these dates and was always very nice to these men. She let them kiss her at the door, but that's all it ever was. She wasn't interested in getting involved with sex anymore. She learned quickly that social circles were social circles and if you gave in to one guy too quickly, soon enough every guy would expect it of you. That wasn't going to happen to her._

_She got her own apartment eventually, in a very good side of town. It cost her almost her entire salary, but it was worth it for the address and the privacy. She got rid of almost everything she had owned when she was Honey too, keeping only her birth certificate and the court papers, but she bought a portable safe and kept them locked away. The only other thing she kept was her old Yahoo email address. She knew she should give up that address, but it seemed like every time she thought seriously about deleting it, she would get an email:_

I'll be in your area this weekend, any chance I can crash with you? Let me know by Thursday.

_And every time, she would hesitate, but answer the same way:_

Yeah, that would be great, I'd love to see you, too.

_And every time he would show up, drop his duffel bag on the floor, scoop her up and carry her into the bedroom where he would prove to her that much like wine, he was getting better with age. She didn't know how many women were responsible for this constant improvement, she didn't care. He claimed he still got checked every thirty days, and even though she had no steady boyfriend, she stayed on the pill. He was like an odd drug that she could live without most of the time, barely even thought about in her day to day life, but when it was available, she **had** to have it. _

_She was starting to think he had spoiled her for everyone else, that she would live out her life as a single woman and started to worry about finding a job where she could move up instead of just moving sideways to a different company, when she met Theo._

* * *

After dinner, they went to the library, where a fire was already burning in the fireplace. This was one of their favorite rooms to relax together, with the dark wood bookshelves lining the walls, the hardwood floors decorated with a number of small and beautiful oriental rugs.

Some nights they both read, he would read trade magazines or papers, and she would read books. She had a kindle, of course she had a kindle, but she still had a fondness for true books. Other nights, like tonight, they talked.

"I still can't believe you're sending me away for the weekend," he said, looking at her with an expression of surprise and, well, corny as it sounded, love. "I would have thought there were a million things we should be doing, and if there weren't, we should be spending more time together."

"I know, but if we stay home this weekend, things will come up," she said. "They always do. This way, you'll be gone and no one can disturb you." She smiled, hoping none of the worry she felt showed on her face. "I'm half tempted to hide your phone so no one can call you, either." She knew she wouldn't do that though, because she wanted him to be able to alert her, in case anything happened and he ended up coming home early.

"Are you sure you won't come with me?" he asked. "I'd love this to be a romantic getaway for the two of us."

She shook her head. "We'll take one of those, soon. I feel sometimes like I'm always dragging you about, from one function to another. I want you to have a real boy's weekend. All five of you can live it up like you're back in the days when you were all single and carefree. Every man needs those types of weekends once in awhile."

"Just like every woman needs a chance to go to Paris to go shopping with the girls?" he said, his eyes glittering.

"Perhaps," she acquiesced, having a feeling that soon enough, she would be treated to just that. A week in Paris with Bev and some of the other girls. Because that's the type of man Theo was too, the type who paid back kindness in tenfold. "But, for my next trip, I want to go someplace romantic with you." And she knew she meant it. Maybe a trip to New England in the Fall, a chance to see the leaves at their most colorful and to stay in a charming Bed and Breakfast, where they could just enjoy being together.

"That sounds wonderful," he agreed.

When they went to bed that night, they made love. It was tender and sweet and wonderful in its own way. Theo knew her body so well, not like _he_ had known it, as if by instinct, Theo had learned her body over the years they had been together. He had always been a considerate lover, wanting to make sure she reached the same heights as he did. She had no complaints, even though-

-even though,

-even though Theo never quite brought her to those heights _he_ had.

* * *

The rest of her plans went off without a hitch, to the point where she was sure fate would step in and bring everything to a crashing halt, just to tear down this house of cards, but...nothing. None of Theo's friends canceled, no crisis happened at work. Friday evening came and they were off, right on time.

Sofia never worked on the weekends, so that wasn't a problem. She wasn't worried about the gardener, he had his own place on the grounds and he never seemed to notice or care what was happening in the house. Louis was a bit of a concern, but when she asked him if he would like to have the weekend off, he enthusiastically told her that there was some motorcycle weekend event going on and he was hoping to be able to go with his brother. She sent him off with her blessings and a feeling of relief.

Saturday morning, she prowled the place, waiting for him to call or show up. He knew her address, she had always sent that in one of her emails, so that wasn't the problem. And while she waited, part of her wondered if she should just go out or not answer the door. She knew if she did that he would get the hint, she had changed her mind. She would drop him a quick email saying that something had come up and she was sorry.

Then, the doorbell rang. She was in the kitchen getting glass of orange juice when she heard it. She almost dropped the glass she was so nervous. She could not answer it. She should not answer it. She told herself that, as she was heading for the door. She even tried to come up with excuses as her hand reached for the knob, turning it, then opening it.

He was on the stoop, wearing a pair of jeans and a blue denim work shirt, well worn but clean. His hair was unruly as if he'd been combing it with his fingers and there was a familiar smirk on his face. "Well, if it isn't Honey Combs," he teased.

She opened the door wider to let him in. "It's Madison now," she remarked, "And it's good to see you, Moxley."

He shook his head, "I go by Dean, now. Dean Ambrose. You really did get out of wrestling, didn't you?" He didn't sound or look at all offended, actually he was looking around the entry hall, taking it all in, the marble floors, the two story windows, the marble topped table. She knew that even though this area was one of the smallest rooms in the house, it was probably bigger then the entire apartment she had grown up in, the one where she had spent the week with him.

"Yes," she admitted. "Theo, my-" she hesitated, then decided there was no point in playing coy. "-my husband, isn't interested in wrestling. I just... well, I just-" she paused, afraid anything she said would make her sound stuck up.

"He might figure out your project kid roots if you started talking about wrestling," Mox-now-Dean said, with a faint grin. "Oh, I've been keeping up on you. I know about Theo Aldridge, CEO and owner of Aldridge Enterprises. In the top 25 Fortune 500 companies. Also in the top 25 Fortune 500 companies listed as best places to work. He's quite a guy, your husband. Extremely generous to his employees, known to be a savvy businessman and a bit of a financial wizard. Also very free with the checkbook and charity, but I think that might have more to do with his lovely wife, Madison, who is constantly helping with every major charity function the city has."

"Did you hire a detective?" she asked, trying not to sound worried.

He shook his head. "The local papers can be accessed online. Oh, don't worry, I don't think anyone from your old life cares enough to find you. Except me." He stopped staring at the fixtures and focused his attention on her. "So, are you happy?"

She nodded, wondering what his game was. "I-I'm grateful that you gave me that advice," she said, wondering if that's what he wanted, credit.

He shrugged. "Honestly, I didn't think you'd take it this far, but if my words inspired you to get this far, hey, great. But you're the one who did the work. How's the prenup?"

He said the last so casually, she almost didn't register, then she frowned. "How do you even know we have a prenup?" she was unable to keep a hint of defensiveness from creeping into her voice.

"Because people in your circles always have prenups," he almost laughed when he spoke.

* * *

_She hadn't liked the prenup idea at all, but she was afraid to raise a fuss, least Theo think that she was only marrying him for what she could get. Which, if he knew her background, he would have thought was the case. Part of her was a little afraid he had hired a private detective. Would it have been that shocking? She claimed to have no family, and carried with her no evidence of a past beyond a few years ago. These were the things that would spark questions in most people, never mind someone as intelligent and business savvy as Theo. And Honey Combs wouldn't be too hard to dig up. She had merely changed her name, she hadn't tried to kill off her past life, have Honey Combs declared dead. Now she wondered if she should have tried._

_Even though she tried not to show her unhappiness at the whole prenup thing, she must have let it show, because the night before she was supposed to go to his lawyers office with him to look it over, he invited her to the apartment he still had. Louis was working for him then, and he made them a simple dinner and left them alone._

_"I know the prenup bothers you," he said, not bothering to be subtle at all._

_"It's okay," she said, shrugging. "I know this is how things are done. I was stupid to think that we were any different from any other couple in our circles." Although she didn't mean to, her voice at the end became slightly choked._

_"We_ are _different," he said, reaching over to take her hand. "I love you, Maddy, you know that, don't you?"  
_

_"And I love you," she said, and if she had any doubt before, it was gone. She truly did love Theo. "I-I'm not upset with you. Or even your family," for it had been his family that had insisted on the prenuptial agreement. "They love you, they want to protect you. I just wish... I just wish that love could override practicality."_

_He smiled. "I agree too. And I want you to know that if you want to hire a lawyer to make sure I'm treating you fairly, I have no objection. I will pay for it, but before you do-" he took his hand away from hers and reached into the pocket of his suit jacket, and pulled out some papers. "Maybe you should see this."_

_She took the papers and opened them. It was a copy of the prenuptial agreement, the one she was supposed to sign tomorrow. "Are you sure you want me to see this, now?"_

_He nodded._

_She looked at the papers again, trying to study them. She wasn't good at legal language, but to her surprise, the papers were fairly straightforward. She read them, then read them again, then read them one more time. Then, she looked at him. "Theo?" There were tears in her eyes and she knew it._

_"What?" he asked. "Is it okay? Do we need to change anything?"_

_She shook her head, unable to speak, afraid the tears would choke her voice. The prenup said she was entitled to half of the assets owned by him at the time of their marriage plus, half of any assets accumulated during the marriage. There was a life insurance policy that would pay a huge amount of money when he died, and that policy could not be transferred as long as she was alive. "It's..." she looked at him. "It's too generous."_

_He wrapped his arms around her. "No, it's not, Maddy. I love you and even if you left me, I want to know you'll be take care of. I don't ever want to lose you, but the most important thing to me is that you're happy. If you find you have to leave me to be happy, then so be it. But-" his gaze dropped away from her for a moment and he looked almost shy, "I'm hoping you'll always be happy with me."_

_She said nothing, just nodded and buried her face in his shoulder, trying to hide the tears, hoping she didn't get make up on his fine shirt. After awhile, when she was sure she could speak without her voice cracking or the tears flowing, she said, "This won't make your family very happy."_

_He shrugged. "They said I should do a prenup, they never said what I had to put into it."_

* * *

She would learn later that if they did get divorced, he could screw her out of almost everything. Rich people and lawyers had ways to make a billion dollar company seem like they were barely surviving, but she hadn't known that then, and she was still certain he meant what he said. Even if she left him, even if she did something unspeakable, like have an affair with the gardener, even if it was discovered what she was doing, right now, what this weekend was really all about, he would take care of her.

"The prenup is fair," she told him. "More than fair. If he were to leave me, or I to leave him, I'll never have to worry about money. I might not be able to afford to hire a private jet all the time, but I'll never have to travel coach either."

"Then why do you stay with him?" He asked, studying her, licking his lips in approval. She knew she still looked beautiful, if anything, thanks to her personal trainer, and better lifestyle choices, she was healthier than she had been when she knew him before. She was more _beautiful_ than when she knew him before. "You could leave him and have all you wanted. You've made it, so why stay?"

The answer was simple and honest. "Because I love him." She did too. More than she realized. And it bothered her that while her heart was filled with love for Theo, she was also staring at Dean, thinking about his body, thinking of all the things she wanted to do with him, all the things she wanted him to do to her body. Realizing how much she loved Theo hadn't dampened that at all. Realizing that part of her was hoping that when she saw him, the old spark, the old attraction would be gone and she would be able to send him away, secure in the knowledge that it was Theo she loved and that love could conquer anything, love could override lust.

He was walking towards her, and hardly aware she was doing it, she backed up into the wall. He put his hands on either side of her on the wall and leaned close. "If you love him so much," he asked, as if reading her mind, "then why are you doing this?"

She knew this was it, this was the moment. If she told him she had made a mistake having him come here, he would leave. Jon Moxley, Dean Ambrose, it didn't matter what he was calling himself, the man would never, in a million years, force her to do anything. He wouldn't take the noble route, walk out the door himself so she didn't have to make the choice, that wasn't his style either. If she wanted to stay true, it had to be her choice and hers alone. For a moment, she thought she would do it, thought she would tell him that staying here was a bad idea, then she looked at him, saw that crazy passion in his eyes, smelled the scent of him, the scent that even when freshly showered still smelled faintly of sex. "Because," she said, wrapping her arms around him, barely aware she was doing it, and grinding into him. "You're a hard habit to break."

The End.


End file.
